FACULTY MEMBERS’ PERCEPTIONS ABOUT THE BARRIERS THAT INHIBIT PARTICIPATION IN PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES: A QUALITATIVE STUDY

Abstract

In the Educational domain, the professional development of the teachers is very crucial, and it is believed that only skilled, well-systematized, and proficient teachers can handle the teaching-learning process very efficiently. Therefore, this research aimed to investigate the faculty members’ perceptions about barriers constraining their participation and commitment to professional development activities and this study would also highlight the significance of professional development opportunities and activities for faculty training and development. This is a qualitative study and follows an interpretivism paradigm. Further, the researcher has adopted phenomenological research to identify an in-depth understanding of the participant's beliefs, and responses. By using a purposive sampling technique, 45 faculty members who belong to the different campuses and divisions of the University of Education were selected for the data collection. The semi-structured interviews were taken from the participants to record their perceptions and challenges for the professional development activities. The interviews were conducted until the occurrence of the saturation point. The data analysis procedure was very comprehensive with the attention of the research ethical considerations. Thus, the collected data were analyzed through NVivo Plus software. Initially, the received participant's responses were transcribed and then converted into various scripts for the thematic analysis. After that, codes were allocated to the extracted themes, and sub-themes were categorized in the data analysis procedure. As per the data findings, two major themes were highlighted. The Personal and Professional Barriers. The subthemes of personal are lack of family support, internal motivation, and financial, and health issues. Whereas the subthemes of professional barriers theme seemed as heavy workload, additional administrative tasks, their non-supportive attitude, time constraints, less financial incentives, lack of physical facilities, barriers to professional development opportunities, and favoritism. Based on the findings, the researcher recommended that the university administration should provide frequent professional development opportunities and reduce teachers' workload or other administrative duties, so they will have enough time to concentrate on enhancing their skills and capabilities. Teachers can be effectively trained through induction programs, workshops, freedom for higher education, and access to research grants. By adopting these strategies, institutions can build a faculty of skilled, well-prepared, and motivated educators. As it seems that, a highly reputable faculty, in turn, contributes to the reputation and success of the educational institution.